Nitin Bajaj: (0:00:00) – Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining us today is Michelle Mehta. Michelle, glad to have you.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:00:09) – Thank you so much for having me.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:00:10) – Our pleasure. So tell us your journey up to here in 60 seconds.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:00:15) – Yeah, I always wanted to be a motivational speaker, and life didn’t turn out that way. I ended up in sales for somehow, somewhere, because my parents thought motivational speaking isn’t a real career, sales is. And down that path, I realized I didn’t want to be a product pusher. I wanted to be a service provider. And sure enough, I landed a job in coaching.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:00:38) – Wonderful. What’s your entrepreneurial purpose?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:00:42) – My entrepreneurial purpose is to help as many people as I can. I want people to feel good about themselves. I want people to feel confident about themselves. And I really want people to really be purpose driven because sometimes we get so caught up in other people’s dreams, and I want people to really focus on who they are.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:00:59) – Was there a mistake or a lesson that really shaped your career?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:01:05) – Yeah, absolutely. I grew up with feeling lack of confidence. I grew up in an environment in school where I felt like I was being bullied for giving hugs to people or giving compliments to people because people thought were thinking of it as different. And in that process, I realized, you know what? I need to stand up for what I am, and I need to stand up for what I want to showcase. And so coaching just kind of landed in that. And having that journey of being bullied allowed me to really show empathy and compassion towards people.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:01:38) – And what you do is not very easy. Right. So what motivates you?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:01:42) – What motivates me is basically seeing other people’s challenges and hearing about other people’s challenges and coming across that. So a lot of people have this. Everybody has a story. And how they go from point a to point b inspires me to be like, you know what? If they can do it, I can do it, too, and nothing stops me. Basically.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:02:03) – What are your sources of inspiration in life, but also in work? Because they’re pretty intertwined, in your case.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:02:09) – Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that motivate me or inspire me are personal development books. So people like Brene Brown, Mel Robbins, and Ariana Huffington. Ariana Huffington is probably going to be, like, my highest idol.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:02:22) – Why?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:02:23) – Because I saw her speak in 2014 at California women’s conference, and I heard her story of her being a greek woman, marrying a senator and then owning this company called the Huffington Post. And then she divorced him with kids, and she ended up with injury, massive injury. And so for her to overcome all of that, I thought in that moment, I’m going to do what she can. If she can do it, then anybody else can do it.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:02:53) – True. What is something that you’re not good at?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:02:57) – I am not good at a lot of things. I’m not good with numbers. Even though I studied finance and marketing, the only numbers I’m actually really good at are birthdays and phone numbers. That’s all about the relationship.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:03:08) – True.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:03:08) – So I’m really good at the relationship aspect of it, but when it comes to analysis, I let somebody else handle that.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:03:14) – But you’re also good at knowing what you’re not good at.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:03:16) – I am also knowing. I’m very self aware. That’s probably one of my hidden talents.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:03:20) – And that’s really good.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:03:21) – Thanks.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:03:24) – What’s a roadblock that you’ve overcome that you’re really proud of?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:03:28) – My parents didn’t really appreciate the coaching industry. They didn’t think it was a valid career. And as I was going through the coursework of becoming a coach, my parents would always tell me, why are you doing this? And I said, you know, just let me do it and I’ll come out of it. And the fact that now I’ve overcome it in terms of gotten certified when the worst time possible. You don’t have to get certified when you’re starting a new job. I did it anyways and now I’m international bestselling author based on my coaching industry. So now it’s like, well, she’s going to do what she wants to do and that’s it. Being stubborn sometimes helps.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:04:01) – It does. What’s the trend in the coaching industry right now?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:04:08) – Everybody’s becoming a coach. If you have gone through some kind of obstacle, you’re a coach. And so one of the greatest obstacles that I’m realizing is how do I stand above the noise and how do I get that credibility, which is why I’ve invested in over 20 coaches in one year to build that solid foundation so I can automatically stand out. And it’s a quicker journey to success.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:04:31) – Right. Having gone through it yourself, you know, what others are looking for and how you can get them there.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:04:36) – Exactly.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:04:38) – What is one thing that you’re really excited about right now?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:04:41) – I am really excited about my dream about becoming a motivational speaker, being that a reality. I have gigs that I’ve lined up this year speaking at the US Air Force Academy is one of them. Having a tech talk lined up at the end of the year is another one. And then possibly being on tv is another one. So these are the things that I’ve lined up. So my dream of being a motivational speaker that started off in my early twenty s is now really, truly becoming a reality. And I’m owning it.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:05:07) – That’s fun. That sounds fun. I’m going to ask you a follow up.

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:05:10) – Yes.

 

Nitin Bajaj: (0:05:11) – What do you do for fun?

 

Michelle Mehta: (0:05:13) – I love to travel. I love hanging out with family and friends. I can get 40 people in 5 minutes. And that’s not a joke. And I’m not exaggerating. I love growing up with people. It literally took a village to raise me, and now I’m part of that village of supporting them.